Getting Entirely Well with Reilly Williams
A Need for Preventive Women’s Health Products
A 2021 McKinsey & Co report found that “Just 1% of healthcare research and innovation spending went to female-specific conditions beyond cancer.”
Common conditions like yeast infections and bacterial vaginosis currently lack reliable preventative options. Instead, approaches focus on treating infections only after they take place — resulting in unnecessary discomfort and cost. Approximately 46 million women per year in the United States will have an infection. Of these women, 40% will suffer from chronic infections — meaning four or more infections per year.
Founding Entirely Well
Reilly Williams aims to change this and empower women to take control of their vaginal health. After spending time at Tesla, Rivian, and Kroger, Williams is no stranger to accomplishing complex and challenging tasks — skills she will need to address the large gaps in women’s health products.
Williams founded her startup, Entirely Well, driven by a mix of frustration and overwhelming demand. The goal is to develop and market a prebiotic personal lubricant that supports a healthy vaginal microbiome, a key factor in helping to prevent bacterial vaginosis and yeast infections. At the same time, “the total addressable market is huge,” says Gordon Rogers, Entirely Well’s Strategy and Planning Expert, “there are four billion women on earth that stand to benefit from such products.”
Making Colorado Home
Initially established in Alabama, Williams and Entirely Well recently relocated to Colorado. As the company matured, Williams began looking to move to a state that has more opportunities for startups focusing on Women’s Health. “I investigated thirteen different states,” she told me, “and none of them were quite like Colorado.”
Williams was impressed by the region’s openness to women’s health technologies and the overall comfort with discussing sometimes taboo ‘feminine problems.’ Furthermore, “when I visited, this was the only location where the people were able to name female company founders off the top of their heads.”
Gaining Momentum
Relocating in 2024, Williams joined Innosphere’s Life Sciences Startup Accelerator. Just a month later, in May, the company was awarded a $250,000 Early-Stage Capital and Retention Grant from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT). This grant supports Colorado-based businesses develop and commercialize advanced technologies that will be created and developed in Colorado.
This is a game-changer for Williams and her company: “We will open a lab in Boulder and hire a full-time vaginal microbiome scientist and offer STEM-based internships in the women’s health space,” she says. The next steps would then be a 10-month FDA journey to get their 510(k) clearance because personal products such as those being developed by Entirely Well are considered class II medical devices.
The future is looking bright for this startup, “Reilly represents the kind of founder who changes the conversation in healthcare,” says Kevin Noble, Life Sciences Program Director at Innosphere. “She’s tackling an enormous, underserved need with boldness, intelligence, and urgency — and we’re proud to back her as she builds solutions that could improve the lives of millions of women worldwide.”
Elyse Blazevich, President & CEO of the Colorado BioScience Association, agrees.“Reilly’s vision for women’s health is bold and needed. Entirely Well’s progress reflects the strength of Colorado’s collaborative ecosystem and the impact of programs like the Life Sciences Incubator, led by Innosphere Ventures. We’re proud that the Colorado Hub for Health Impact national economic development campaign, led by Colorado BioScience Association and 30 partners since inception, attracted Entirely Well to Colorado, where Reilly is already accelerating growth and advancing solutions that will make a difference for patients.”
Entirely Well is currently seeking seed-stage funding and partnerships with women’s sports teams. For more information on the company and its founder, visit www.entirelywell.com
